An Edd of a Different Color
by AsTheTidesTurnRed
Summary: After four years away from Peach Creek, Edd's back with a new look and a new attitude. Rated T for language and possible violence, substance use and sexual moments
1. Chapter 1

_So you wanna be a rock superstar, and live large_

_a big house, 5 cars, you're in charge_

_comin' up in the world, don't trust no body_

_gotta look over your shoulder constantly_

The people on the greyhound looked at the kid strangely. Some of them were used to seeing kids like him; Black stocking cap, snake bite piercings, the loose black tank top promoting a band, tight black jeans and black converse with a guitar bag and a few bags in the seat next to him. Most of them were used to seeing kids sitting with their head phones blasting hip-hop music. Hell, they were even okay with seeing kids reading thick books about computer programming. But to see all three wrapped into one 16 year old package? That's what threw them off.

Edd didn't pay them any mind, though. If anything, he was trying to forget the fact that he was on the bus. He was happy being at his grandparents' house in the Detroit suburbs. He was thrilled living somewhere where he could be himself, where he was talked to like a human, where his "Friends" didn't use him… yet here he was, on this damn bus, on his way back to what he considered to be his own personal hell. In some respects, he was what the people on the bus would expect; he was 16, and dammit, he was PISSED!

Within the next hour or two, he was back on the cul-de-sac, grabbing his stuff from the back of a taxi and shuffling into the house, which was still exactly how he remembered it- clean, orderly, picture-perfect. Edd dragged his stuff up to his room, which he saw was adorned with a sticky note.

_Eddward: Please do the dishes before we return home._

No greeting, no glad-to-have-you-back… well, at least Edd knew that his parents still didn't beat around the bush. He threw his things into his room- which was exactly how he remembered it- and looked around. He decided that he was going to do some re-modeling, maybe walk around a bit to see how the cul-de-sac had changed, if it had changed at all, but before any of that, he was going to take a well-deserved nap. 8 hours on a bus will jet lag you a little bit. As he threw himself down on the bed that was JUST big enough to fit his 6'1, yet very lean body, he decided that the dishes could wait quite a while… it's not like his parents were going to be home any time soon. He figured if nothing else had changed, his parents' tendency to spend every moment at work was probably the exact same, as well.

A half hour later, Edd woke up fully energized. He started putting his clothes away, placing his books in the book case, and hung up some pages from a several magazines displaying some of his favorite musicians. After spending roughly an hour doing this, he looked out the window and decided to go for a stroll. He slung his acoustic guitar over his shoulder and stepped out.

The cul-de-sac was very similar to how he remembered it, but there were some notable changes, Edd noticed. The playground had become rusted. The construction yard was now an apartment complex. The candy store was now a restaurant called "Pete's Diner", which had a huge banner in the window stating that it was the only 24-7 diner in Peach Creek. Other than that, not a damn thing had changed, by the looks of it. After about 45 minutes of aimless wandering, Edd decided to sit on the old playground and strum his guitar a little bit.

_Come on, take a step towards me_

_So you can figure me out_

_I've been hoping and praying for a single way_

_To show you what I'm all about_

_And I know, and I know this is the only way of pleasing the crowds_

_But when this is over and done with and we walk away_

_There should be no doubts_

A blonde, shapely cheerleader and a sporty looking red head looked over the fence and looked at the punk/emo boy sitting in the playground, strumming at a black acoustic guitar, singing in a beautiful, yet slightly mournful voice.

"Wow… this guy's good Nazz!"

"Kinda cute too, Sara."

"Say, Nazz, does he look familiar to you?"

"A little bit… I can't quite put my finger on it, though?"

"Wait… doesn't he kind of look like…"

"You know, I thought that… but it couldn't be! I mean, it's been three years, and I, like, know that people can change a lot over time, but c'mon. There's no way that anyone can change THAT much in three years, like, you know?"

"I guess your right… I swear, though, if you look at him hard enough, he looks just like…"

"Shit, Sara, he's looking at us!"

Edd looked at Sara and Nazz and watched them duck their heads under the fence. Edd grabbed his guitar and sped off- the last thing he wanted was to be noticed. As he walked away, he thought that it was only a matter of time before people realized that "Double D" was back in town- school was starting back up tomorrow, after all- but he'd rather prolong that moment as long as possible.

SONGS USED

Rock Superstar by Cypress Hill  
>Beauty and the Breakdown by Scene Aesthetic<p> 


	2. Chapter 2

AUTHORS NOTE  
>Since just about everyone who reviewed brought this up, I'll address it. Yes, I understand that this story is similar to "A Brand New Double D". I was inspired by that story very much. That said, there's a million ways that a story like that could go, which is why I decided to do this story. It might not be the most original concept in the world, but then again, but I plan on taking this a very different direction. That said, let's get started with Chapter 2<p>

Xoxoxoxoxoxo

Edd walked into the class room wearing a Motley Crue T-shirt and loose black jeans. He kept his head low, avoiding anyone that he could so he wouldn't get recognized, and he did a pretty good job; he hadn't seen a single person that he knew yet. He shuffled to the back of the class, grunted when the teacher said his name and listened to the guy ramble on his syllabus. With a half hour left in class, the teacher allowed the class to goof off and talk amongst themselves for the remainder. That's when he walked up.

6'4, a lean yet muscular frame, the same thick mono-brow, the same red and white striped shirt and green jacket over it, the same dopey voice.

"HI DOUBLE D!"

"Ed, shhh!" Edd hissed. "How did you even know it was me?"

"How could I ever forget my bestest buddy in the world?"

Edd smiled a bit at this; it felt good knowing that Ed still held him in such high regard. At that moment, a girl with bright blue eyes, green hair and a flatter, yet very busty body wearing a black baby T over purple fish nets, a red flannel skirt and black knee high boots sat down next to Ed.

"So," the girl said in a brooding, monotone voice, "it would look like our dearest Ed made a new friend."

"Naw," Ed said a little quieter, "this is my old pal Double D."

"Name's Lizzie."

"Pleasure to meet you, ma'am." Double D said in a polite voice. He turned back to Ed immediately afterward. "Look, Ed, I need for you to do me a favor!"

"Anything, buddy."

"Ed, I need for you to not tell ANYBODY that I'm back in town, okay?"

"But, why…"

"Please, Ed, I need for you to do this for me!"

Ed saw the concern in his old friends' eyes and softened up. "Don't worry, your secrets safe with me, Double D old buddy!"

Edd smiled and spent the rest of the class talking with Ed and Lizzie.

Xoxoxoxoxoxo

Edd went through two more classes before he had lunch. He got two chicken burritos and sat down by himself. Soon afterward, he was joined by Lizzie.

"Oh, hello there." Edd said

"Just a warning, this is my table." Lizzie said, cutting right to the chase. "I'm fine with you sitting here, but if you take this chair that I'm in, we're going to have some issues."

"What's the big deal with the chair?"

Lizzie gazed at the lunch room. "You see where we're at? We're at the far back corner. From this spot, I can look at the entire lunch room, and I like knowing what's going on around me, understand?"

"Umm… yeah, sure." Edd wasn't sure how to feel about this girl quite yet. "So… where's Ed sitting? He has this lunch, right?"

"Yeah," she scoffed, "he's probably sitting with all of his football buddies."

"Ed's on the football team?"

"Yeah, some offensive crap. I don't know, I don't pay attention to that petty bull crap."

"Right… so, how did you and Ed meet?"

"There was a horror movie that came out in a small theater for its 50th anniversary. He was the only other guy under the age of 40 there, so we talked a little bit. He's kind of a dope, but he knows his horror movies. Guess I keep talking to him because I don't want to see him talking to nobody but those jock jackasses and that Eddy creep!"

"Ed still talks to Eddy?"

"Jeez, aren't we full of questions today? Yes, Ed still talks to that creep… I don't understand why. The short little shit swindles little kids into buying pirated movies for full price… I wouldn't mind taking his midget ass and kicking it over a fence."

"Sounds like the Eddy I remember."

"So, you've asked me all of these questions, I'm going to ask you one; why did you leave, and why did you come back?"

Edd sighed. "I have no issues answering that question at a later time, but that's nothing that I want to talk about right now if it's all the same to you." There was a moment of silence before Edd spoke again. "So… where do you live?"

"I have no issues answering that question at a later time, but that's nothing I want to talk about right now if it's all the same to you." Lizzie responded, with a coy smile on her face.

Xoxoxoxoxoxo

Kevin sat at the jock table with Rolf, Ed, Nazz, Sarah and the rest of his sporty buddies, taking jabs at all the other kids, when he looked over and saw that creepy gothic girl Lizzie talking to some emo looking kid.

"Look at that," Kevin said, adjusting his red baseball cap , "that creepy Lizzie girl found herself a boyfriend."

"Yes," Rolf said in his typical eastern European accent, "it would seem that the creepies have found friendship in the company of each other's cattle."

"Rolf, to this day I have no idea what the hell you're saying half the time!" Kevin said chuckling a bit.

"Doesn't he look familiar?" Nazz said. Ed started to pay a bit more attention, and started to get worried.

"You know," Kevin said, taking a closer look at the emo kid, "now that you say something, he kind of does."

"If you ask me," Nazz said, "doesn't he look kind of like…"

At that moment, Ed "accidentally" knocked over his chocolate milk, making it spill on Kevin's new jeans.

"God dammit, Ed, you dumb ass!"

"Be nice, Kevin!" Nazz snapped

"Be nice?" Kevin said, getting hot headed, "That gigantic dumbass just spilled milk all over my jeans!"

"It was an accident! You don't always have to be such a dick!"

"Yeah, and you don't always have to chip in your two cents."

"Ugh, fuck you Kevin, I'm out of here."

"Me too!" Sarah said. The two girls got up and walked away as Kevin mopped up the milk on his jeans with a napkin.

"I swear, mono-brow, I'm going to take this out on you at practice today!"

Ed felt kind of bad, but at the same time, he needed to make sure that nobody figured out that was Double D. He promised.


	3. Chapter 3

Double D got changed in the locker room. Gym class was the second to last class he had, and this was one he was kind of looking forward to; while he was in Detroit, he discovered the wonders of getting active and, despite the fact that he was still a nerd at heart, he loved getting physical every now and again. He changed into a black tank top and a pair of blue and black basketball shorts. He closed his locker turned to leave and bumped into a black guy with dread locks going down the middle of his back getting dressed right next to him, which knocked Edd on his ass.

"Sorry about that" Edd said.

"No problem man, let me help you up." The black kid extended his hand, which Edd accepted, and helped pull him to his feet. "Name's Craig, by the way."

"Edd, it's nice to meet you."

"You new here, Edd?"

"Yeah, you could say that."

"Cool, cool. Well, you better get out there and warm up. We're playing soccer today, and if you're on the opposite team as me, you better be ready. Not trying to brag, but I'm the captain of the soccer team here, so I guess you can say I'm not half bad."

"Thank you for the warning." Edd said kind of mousey. Edd loved Soccer, but he wasn't all too good at it.

"No problem, champ. See you out there!"

Xoxoxoxoxoxo

Edd didn't know most of the people he was playing with, but he did notice that most of the jocks were in the same class as him. He was on a team with Nazz and Sarah, and they were facing a team that had Kevin, Rolf and Craig. Edd was originally doing defense, but by the second half of the game, he had moved up to right forward. With five minutes left, the score was tied 2-2. Edd was beginning to zone out a little bit, when he found the ball in his possession.

"Don't just stand there, new kid," Sarah shouted out, "go make the damn goal!"

Edd started to dribble the ball up the field, and he noticed that Kevin was right on his ass, and realized for the first time that Craig was the goal keeper. He got kind of nervous, but he moved forward. Kevin went to tackle him out of the way, but Edd ducked behind him and passed the ball to Nazz, who was playing center forward. Nazz ran up the field, as did Edd, who still had Kevin on his ass. Kevin went to tackle Edd to the ground, which would have been a foul, but Edd side stepped it, causing Kevin to fall flat on his face. Nazz faked out Craig, making it look like she was going to go for a goal, but she passed the ball back to Edd, who kicked the ball right into the back of the net. 20 seconds later, the game was over, and Edd had made the game-winning goal. His team was pretty excited, and Nazz ran up and gave him a giant hug. Edd started blushing wildly, because Nazz was still just as gorgeous as ever; blonde pig tails, sweat glistening off of her VERY curvy body, bright blue eyes, wearing a pair of pink short shorts and a very… er, _revealing_ pink tank top.

Kevin looked at the two embraced in the center of the field and his blood began to boil. Rolf walked over and helped Kevin up to his feet, and pulled a dirty rag out of his pocket, handing it to Kevin.

"What's this for?" Kevin barked.

"Your nose," Rolf said, "it glistens with the mud of the field and a bit of blood."

Kevin wiped his nose off, and sure enough, he had a slight nose bleed. "That new kid's gonna get it after school today, Rolf." He gritted his teeth.

Xoxoxoxoxoxo

The last bell of the day rung, and Edd walked out of the school, back pack over his shoulder, his gym clothes in his back pack so he could wash them when he got home. He was switching his Ipod over to a Nelly song when he felt something push against his chest, knocking Double D on his ass for the second time that day. He looked up and saw Kevin standing above him, rage flickering in his eyes.

"You think you can give me a bloody nose and mack on my girl, you scrawny little shit?" Kevin barked out as Edd got up to his feet.

"I'm sorry about your nose," Double D stated calmly, "and I'd like to ensure you that I wasn't trying to… 'mack' on your girl, but I'd hardly say this is an appropriate way to…"

"Fuck off, new kid!" Kevin went to lunge forward, and Edd put his hands up, ready to scrap, but before anything else could happen, Craig ran up and threw Kevin to the ground.

"You are NOT going to do that, Kevin!" Craig barked out, authority booming from his voice.

"Craig…" Kevin stammered, "…er, _captain,_ this has nothing to do with you…"

"Oh, I would disagree. Listen, you do this, I'm telling the coach, and you're going to be sitting on the side lines during the first game, you understand me Kevin?"

Kevin grunted "I understand", then picked himself up off the ground and shuffled off to the field. Craig walked up to Edd.

"Sorry about that, man," Craig said, "Kevin's kind of a sore loser and he gets really jealous when it comes to Nazz."

"I could have handled him myself." Edd said quietly

"I'm sure you could have, but I'm his captain, and I ain't putting up with that shit from him."

"Thank you."

"Think nothing of it. I gotta get to practice, but if he gives you any more crap, let me know, Edd." With that, Craig walked away. Edd went to leave, but he was quickly stopped by Nazz and Sarah running up to him.

"Oh my GOD," Nazz said, sympathy in her voice, "I am SO sorry!"

"It's nothing," Edd said, "he didn't get a chance to hurt me or anything. I'm guessing you two are dating right now?"

"We're on a break, but… god, he's such a jerk!"

"I've been telling you that for HOW long?" Sarah said

"Shut up Sarah!" Nazz said, a bit of a smile on her face. She turned her attention back to Edd. "Anyways, can I make it up to you by taking you out for a bite to eat at Pete's later?"

"I appreciate that, but…"

"Look, new kid," Sarah said, "the hottest chick in school is asking you out to eat, are you REALLY gonna say no?"

"SARAH!" Nazz was blushing quite a bit.

Edd laughed a bit. "Okay… yeah, sure. Meet up there at six? I've got to take care of a couple of things."

"That's fine. See you then, new kid. Wait…"

Nazz went to ask the kid what his name is, but Edd was already walking away, 'Just a dream' by Nelly blaring out of the head phones. He was kind of kicking himself for agreeing to the meeting… but holy crap, like Sarah said, he wasn't about to say no to the 'hottest girl in the school'

Xoxoxoxoxoxo

Kevin watched the exchange from the side lines, hidden behind a bush. His blood boiled, but he knew that he couldn't do anything about it without catching shit from Craig. God, Craig pissed him off more times than not.

"Shit," Kevin thought quietly to himself, "how am I gonna… wait…"

The gears started to turn in his head. He really didn't want to have to turn to the dork… but he knew that he'd do anything to make a quick buck… Kevin smiled an evil smile as he walked his way to the football field.


	4. Chapter 4

Ma trezesc cu tine-n gand  
>Despre tine vreau sa cant<br>Melodia mea de dor  
>Care place tuturor<p>

Edd sang softly as he finished up the dishes that he held off from the previous night, trying to distract himself from the meeting he had with Nazz and Sarah in an hour. 'Crap,' he thought to himself, 'how could I be dumb enough to get talked into that one?'

He scrubbed the last cup before shutting off the faucet and drying off the dishes. 'I mean, it could be worse… Nazz is still cute as ever… but I DO NOT want people knowing I'm back!' He put down the plate he was drying and walked around, trying to clear his head, trying to figure out what to say. Truth be told, he was nervous for other reasons… I guess you could say that he still had a bit of a crush on Nazz from the old days. But it wasn't the old days anymore! He let himself be distracted by the knock at the door, which he rushed off to answer. When he did, he was greeted by a UPS man with seven large, square boxes and two long, rectangular boxes.

"You Edd?"

"Indeed I am, good sir!"

"Sign here, please."

Edd signed the sheet of paper and began moving the boxes inside the house before closing the door. For the first time since Nazz asked him to dinner, Edd's mind was off his meeting later. He knew that he'd have the rest of his stuff back before the end of the week, but he didn't expect it this soon! His grandpa must have dropped a little extra money to have it shipped over night.

"Note to self," Double D mumbled to himself as he moved box after box to his room, "call grandpa and thank him."

He got all nine boxes in his room before he ripped open the packaging to one of the long, rectangular boxes, and was absolutely thrilled by what he found inside; ol' faithful herself. His Epiphone G-400 guitar. Cherry finish, mahogany body, a beautiful rosewood neck, bluesy tone with a hell of a crunch when run through the right pedals and amp combo. He grabbed a pick from off of his desk and strummed down the strings.

"Bit out of tune," he said to himself, "but easy enough fix."

For the first time in about 20 minutes, he glanced at the clock. 5:30. He knew he should get ready to meet the girls at the diner. Edd dashed into the bathroom and threw some cologne on before looking up at the mirror and seeing a sticky note. Edd rolled his eyes as he read it.

"Eddward, me and your father decided that you could use a bit more room, so we have agreed to let you have the basement as your room. We hope that you're not too far into unpacking."

Edd sighed a bit, partially out of joy, partially out of annoyance. While the basement was definitely going to be nice to have, he was quite far into unpacking. He grabbed a pen and a sticky note and jotted a note of thanks, saying he would start moving his things tomorrow, sticking it on the mirror before ducking out and heading to the diner, popping an American Spirit Full-Bodied in his mouth and lighting it before he left (While Edd promised himself he'd never be a smoker… well, when in Detroit…)

-

"I told you it was going to be five bucks, kid, now do you want it or not?"

"Fine, fine."

The kid put a five dollar bill into his hand, and he handed the kid the DVD. A pirated movie, still in theaters. Sure, the kid could get the movie himself, but he didn't care one way or the other. Just another sucker scammed, so if he wants to pay him to do something so simple, why not milk it for all it's worth? He lit up a Marlboro Smooth and hit it hard, letting the smoke fill his lungs, burning his throat ever-so-slightly. When he exhaled, he saw Kevin approaching him.

"Oh, hey Kev… uh… what's up buddy?" He was a little nervous, since him and Kevin never really got along that well.

"Relax, dork, I want to make a deal with you?"

His eyebrows nearly shot off of his head, and he grinned widely. "A deal, huh? What kind of deal we talking here?"

"You hear about the new kid?"

He groaned. "Are you kidding me? I had to listen to the Kankers drone on and on about him in fourth hour. Heard that you two got into…"

"Shut up!" He could tell that Kevin was still a little sore about it, and… well, why push it and ruin a business opportunity? "Look, I want for you to find out as much about this kid as you can. I'll give you thirty bucks…"

"Forty!"

"Thirty five, and that's it!" Kevin shot him a threatening look, and he decided it was best to just accept the thirty five.

"…as I was saying, I'll give you thirty five to dig up whatever dirt you can on him. We got a deal, Eddy?"

Eddy grinned widely. "You betcha, Kevin my boy!"

"Meet me in the old junk yard on Saturday. Give me whatever information you got on the kid. If it's good stuff, I'll pay you. If not… just make sure it's good. Oh, and don't let anyone know you're doing this. Not your lunking idiot of a buddy, not any of the kids you con, nobody, understood, dork?"

"Gotcha, Kev!"

Kevin shuffled away, and Eddy grinned widely, rubbing his hands together. Thirty five smackers can buy a decent amount of booze, and who knows? This goes well, maybe Kevin will recommend him to some other people? A brand new batch of suckers… Eddy walked away, cigarette in hand, bootleg dvd's in his bag, and a sleazy grin sprayed across his face.

-

AUTHOR NOTE: Okay, first things first, I know it's been a little while, and I'm sorry for that. I've been really busy as of late and, to be honest, I lost the lay out that I had for the first ten chapters, along with a bunch of other stuff I had in a notebook I misplaced, which was rather dis-heartening. That said, I'm working on making a lay-out for the next few chapters, so if you have any ideas or requests, now is the perfect time to leave them, since I'm going to be completely reworking what I had planned for the story. Apologies, again, hope you liked the chapter, be sure to review, blah blah blah. By the way, the song was Despre Tine by O-Zone


	5. Chapter 5

_Author's Note: **Le' sigh** Once more, I apologize for how long it has been since I last updated this story. Those of you who are familiar with my work are probably used to it by now, but I still apologize, nonetheless. Between being off-and-on sick for the past month, month and a half, and my personal life being chaotically busy, it leaves me with very little time to sit down and write, which sucks, because I feel just as strongly about this story as some of you do. Using that as my segue, I would like to thank those who have reviewed for reviewing. It has been your kind words that have motivated me to find time to sit down and write, and to make the most of that time. Anyways, I'm sure you could care less about my nonsensical babbling, you want a continuation to the story. Well, I'd hate to disappoint, so here you go!_

Xoxoxoxoxoxo

_It's so sad to say_

_What we had has gone away_

_You could say it's sad_

_Think of what we could have had_

Edd blasted his headphones as he walked up to Pete's Diner. He tried to keep his mind occupied with other things (Specifically how he was going to decorate his basement), but he couldn't ignore how painfully nervous he was. He ran through any question that either Nazz or Sarah could ask, and thought of a million answers in the hopes that he wouldn't give his identity up. He found himself more focused on the Q&A session going on in his head as he got closer, until finally he was in front of the diner. He checked his watch, and let out a slight sigh of relief.

"5:55. At least I'm on time." Edd said quietly to himself. Sure, he was a little early, but Edd took an old saying from his Grandfather by heart; If your not at LEAST five minutes early, you're late.

The door jingled a little bit as Edd stepped inside of the diner. It was a pretty basic place- Yellow wallpaper, faded red carpet, some news clippings about the diner hung up on the wall. Edd looked around before being greeted by a cute little blonde waitress.

"Welcome to Pete's!" She said in her cheeriest voice, which Edd couldn't help but feel was slightly manufactured. "Will it be just you dining tonight?"

"Why, no, miss." Edd said in a pleasant, polite tone, "I'm actually expecting two young ladies about my age to be joining me this evening."

"Table or booth, dear?"

"No preference, whatever will be easiest on you."

The waitress smiled as she led Double D to the nearest booth. He sat down and, after ordering a lemon tea, did a little people watching. He found that this was sort of a hot spot for the high school crowd, as he spotted many people he recognized from his classes (Thankfully, nobody who would recognize him, though). About ten minutes passed before he heard the door clatter once more, followed by the chattering of the two ladies he was waiting for. He let out a deep sigh, preparing himself for the guaranteed rapid-fire questioning that he was about to be recipient to. The two were led to the table by the waitress.

"Hey there, new kid!" Nazz greeted, her voice radiating glee. Sarah let out a sheik wave.

"Good evening, ladies," Edd greeted, "I hope the walk over here was kind to you."

"Why thank you!" Nazz said. The two girls sat down and ordered their drinks. The three of them skimmed through the menu as they chatted.

"Hey," Nazz said, "I just wanted to apologize again for the way Kevin was acting earlier."

"Oh, it's nothing that you should be sorry about." Edd said, without looking up from his menu. "This Kevin fellow seems like he has a huge chip on his shoulder and, seeing how you two are on an off period, as you explained earlier, is probably extremely jealous of any interactions you might have with somebody of the opposite sex."

"Quite a wordy little thing, aren't you?" Sarah said, a slight smirk on her face.

"My apologies," Edd said, "just trying to assure Nazz that there's no issue." Edd made the mental note to try and dumb down his speech a little bit, lest he be discovered by the two.

"So, what's the scoop with you?"

"Excuse me?"

"Well, it's not often that a tall, good looking stranger moves into town. Tell me about yourself. Where you're from, what you do, stuff like that."

"Hmm..." Edd thought for a moment, trying to figure out what to say. "Well, I moved here from Detroit. I lived with some family out there, now I live with some family out here. Can't say I'm thrilled to be here... nothing against Peach Creek, but I did quite enjoy Detroit."

"Isn't Detroit dangerous?" Sarah inquired.

"Well, certain parts of it were a little hairy, but downtown wasn't that bad, and that's where I lived. My Grandpa ran a general repair shop, and we lived in an apartment above the shop."

The waitress came back by, and the three ordered their food. The girls requested for Edd to go on, and he did so.

"Well, I mostly helped my grandpa around at the shop, whenever I wasn't preoccupied with my studies. We'd fix everything from old clocks to television sets to refrigerators... we even fixed a few cars, but it was mostly appliances and electronics and stuff. Eventually, I wound up as the head of modern electronics repairs... that basically means I'd fix game systems and computers and mp3 players and stuff. Then... well, I got the call that I was wanted here, so here I am."

"You seemed to have left out the music stuff." Sarah said rather bluntly.

"I beg your pardon?"

"The music stuff. Me and Nazz saw you at the park a few nights ago playing a guitar."

"Not that we were spying on you or anything!" Nazz interjected quickly. Edd merely let out a slight chuckle.

"No, no, not at all. Yeah, music is another big part of my life."

"What do you play?" Nazz said. One thing Edd noticed was that the whole time he was talking, Nazz was wide-eyed, paying attention, almost mesmerized with what Edd was saying, which made him want to continue talking.

"Well... I think a better question is what don't I play?" Edd said, a healthy bit of confidence ringing in his voice. "As I'm sure you could tell by your discovery in the park, my comfort zone is guitar. However, I also play bass guitar, piano, drums, xylophone, trumpet, saxophone, violin, upright bass, steel guitar, flute, and I like to toy around with the didgeridoo every great now and again."

"Wow..." Nazz was taken aback by the sheer talent that this kid had.

"With all of that going on, must not leave you a lot of time for school work." Sarah said, almost trying to find a flaw in this kid.

"On the contrary, Sarah, I'm extremely devoted to my school work. I spend at least three hours a night studying, even when I have my homework and everything already done. I guess that those things just come natural to me..." Edd stopped himself, realizing that it wouldn't be that hard for the girls to assume that the brainy teenager before them might be the brainy kid they knew in their youth. Thankfully, the waitress came in time to disrupt the conversation with their meals. The three chatted about this and that (Well... the girls chatted, mostly. Edd just listened) as Edd ate his grilled chicken wrap.

It was about 7 when Edd noticed the time. "Oh dear..."

"What is it?" Nazz asked.

"Well, I do need to be returning home! I fear that I have quite a few chores to do at home, plus I'd like to get some of my unpacking done, since most of my belongings came in just before I left."

"Aww, please don't go!"

"Sorry, ladies, but duty calls." Edd grabbed all three bills and gave a curt nod before whisking away to pay for the bill. The girls turned to one another.

"Seems a little arrogant to me." Sarah said.

"Oh, stop it Sarah! He seems like a really nice guy! You don't always have to be such a negative Nancy!"

"Whatever, I'm a little suspicious of him."

Nazz rolled her eyes before having a grand realization. "Oh, hey," she said, turning toward the checkout desk, "I never got your name..."

However, when she turned around, Edd had just left, the bells on the door still clattering as she sat there, kicking herself a little bit.

Xoxoxoxoxoxo

Eddy leaned against a light post, peering from across the street into the diner and watching Edd leave the diner. Eddy followed the new kid from a safe distance until he peered over his shoulder to spot Eddy following him. Eddy continued walking, and shot a glance at the new kid.

"Take a picture, it'll last longer!" Eddy spat.

He walked right past the new kid like nothing happened, but he was kicking himself for being spotted. He was sure that Kevin would have fished out an extra ten bucks if Eddy could figure out where he lived. However, it was only Wednesday, so he still had two more days to keep an eye on the new kid...


	6. Chapter 6

AUTHOR NOTE: I usually like to put these at the end of a chapter, but just for a change of pace, I'll start the chapter with this. I would like to apologize for how long it's been since I've updated this story. I'll spare you the details, but my life is extraordinarily hectic, even for me, so I don't have a bunch of time to sit down and write any more. Also, so I don't have to include one of these in every chapter, I want to let you guy's know that the sporadic updates are probably going to be a regular thing. Until life calms down a little bit, I'm going to continue having little time to sit down and write. I apologize for that. To end on a high note, I want to thank you all for your kind words about the story. After losing the notebook I had written out the plans for this story in (Fucking floods...), I was iffy about even continuing my work on any of the fan fictions I currently had up, and contemplating starting again from square one, but the support I had gotten on this story convinced me to keep going. Anyways, all of that said, I think y'all have waited long enough for a new chapter!

Xoxoxo

Edd sat on the toilet in his bathroom, the shower and the fan on, smoking a cigarette, mulling over every little thing he had said at the dinner with Nazz and Sarah. To be perfectly honest, he was still kicking himself a little bit over even agreeing to go out to dinner with them, but he thought that he hadn't said anything that would come back and bite him in the ass... at least he hoped not. "Maybe the comment on how much time he spends studying gave me away..." Edd thought out loud to himself. He smoked his cigarette down to the butt of the butt before dropping it in the toilet and flushing it. He sat there, waiting for the smoke to clear, then sprayed his cologne in the restroom to mask the smell (He'd become rather good at masking the tobacco scent in Detroit). Once he felt it was safe, he turned the fan and the shower off, only to hear a knocking at his front door. Edd felt his heart stop and his blood run cold for a second. "Fuck," he thought, "please tell me that they didn't figure out who I am..."

After the longest five seconds of his life, Double D threw open the bathroom door and sprinted to the front door, and peeked to see who it was. He let out a shallow sigh of relief when he saw it was Ed and that Lizzie girl, but quickly became anxious again. Edd opened the door, kind of pushed the two inside, then slammed the door.

"Ed, what the hell are you doing here?" Edd said a bit louder than he planned.

"I have something for you, Double D!"

Double D noticed that Ed had a cardboard box under his arm, but he decided to worry about that in a minute. "Look," Double D began, still sounding rather anxious, but trying to keep his cool, "Ed, I can't have you coming around like this! If anyone would have seen you..."

"Nobody saw." Lizzie spoke up. "Trust me, I tried talking the big guy out of it, but he wouldn't shut up until we came over. I made sure that nobody was watching when we knocked on the door, since you value your privacy."

"Right..." Double D was a little calmer about the situation now.

"I have something for you, Double D!" Ed said again. It wasn't until now that Edd noticed that Ed looked happy... even happier than usual (Which is saying something for Ed). Double D went to ask what it was, but before he could utter a word, he had the cardboard box shoved in his hands. Edd looked down at the box, then looked back up to see Ed looking anxiously, excitedly, waiting for Double D to open the gift. He was nervous, but he smiled at Ed and opened the box. He had to dig through some newspaper that was there to keep the package safe, but he saw...

"Jim..."

xoxoxo

_Double D sat on his bed, looking over at the bags of luggage that he had in his room. In just an hour, he would finally be leaving Peach Creek for good, and nobody would know until the morning. He was getting his clean escape, his clean get-away. To say that he was giddy with excitement was an understatement, as he was bouncing up and down on his bed, jittery with happiness. However, that changed kind of quickly when he glanced over at his desk and saw his cactus Jim._

_Double D had no idea what to do with the cactus, and he told himself that he'd figure it out later. But now, there was no "later". He couldn't bring Jim with him to Detroit, but he surely couldn't just leave his cactus there to die. Edd sat there in thought for a moment or two before he finally came to a conclusion._

_He jumped up from his bed and dug through a box until he came across a book he had on how to properly care for a cactus. He grabbed Jim and sneaked out the front door, down the cul-de-sac, and to Ed's basement window. He knocked lightly... then not so lightly... until Ed finally opened up the window._

"_Hi-ya Double D!"_

"_Shh!" Edd hissed, not wanting to draw attention to himself. "Look, Ed, can you do me a favor?"_

_"What is it, oh buddy, oh pal, oh friend of mine?"_

_Edd put the cactus and the book on the ground in front of the window. "Well... I'm going away for a little while, and I wanted to know if you would take care of Jim for me?"_

"_Sure!" Ed grabbed the cactus and the book and put them in his room. Double D went to turn to walk away, but Ed got back to the window a little too quickly. "How long are you going to be gone for?"_

"_Err... not too long, I can assure you!" Double D lied._

"_Okay. See you when you get back, buddy!"_

_With that, Ed closed his window. Double D peeked in for a minute or two and saw Ed start to read the book that he'd left. Double D didn't feel bad about keeping everything such a secret until now. He thought about coming clean to Ed, but eventually decided against it and turned to walk back home. He couldn't explain why, but a single tear was rolling down his face..._

xoxoxo

"You said you'd come back, so I took good care of him, Double D!"

Edd couldn't speak... well, he probably could, but he had no idea what to say. There was a long moment of silence before Ed picked Double D up into a tight bear hug.

"I missed you, Double D." Ed said before putting Edd down.

"I... I missed you too, Ed."


	7. Chapter 7

The next few days had been rather uneventful. A lot of Edd keeping to himself, occasionally talking to Lizzie or Ed during the Language Arts class they had together, dodging menacing glares from Kevin whenever he had gym class and thinking about Ed's loyalty to him through all of these years. It ate Double D up quite a bit to know that the big lunk had remained so loyal to him, but he tried to keep himself distracted.

Friday started off no different than the rest of the week had. Edd came in, tired from a night of chores and studying the night before, and sat down at the back of his Language Arts class, being joined by Ed and Lizzie. The teacher droned on for about 45 minutes before passing out the day's work sheet and letting the class go about their studies.

"Ugh," Lizzie mumbled as the class started to chat among themselves, "that guy really does go on and effing on, doesn't he?"

"I do not understand what he is saying, but his voice makes me want to go to lullaby land." Ed said in a typical dopey fashion.

"Well," Edd said, "I have to admit that he could go about it in a more interesting way, but the points he makes about literature are quite fascinating."

"God, you are such a dork." Lizzie said with a smirk on her face. Edd, while he didn't like being referred to as a "dork", decided it was best to just return the smile. They chatted for about five minutes before a girl with dark blue hair covering her eyes came in, dressed in a black Dimmu Borgir shirt, fish net arm bands and black trip pants. She handed the teacher a slip of paper, chatted with him for a moment, then left the classroom.

"Man, that girl looked awfully familiar for some reason..." Edd said to nobody in particular.

"Who, her?" Lizzie said, eyes fixed on her assignment, "That's Marie Kanker, the 'Goth Princess' of Peach Creek High." 

"Wait, that was Marie Kanker?"

"You know her?"

"Yeah... she kind of used to have a gigantic crush on me..."

Lizzie let out a bit of a giggle. "Yeah, that doesn't shock me at all. Marie's probably had a crush on every boy in this school who wears black and band tee's. Let me guess... super obsessive, kind of a bitch toward you?"

Edd laughed. "Sounds about right. I wonder what everyone else is like now..."

"Well, I could always tell you." Lizzie looked up from her paper and looked Double D in the eyes. "Me and Ed usually go to the junk yard on Saturday and hang out in this old hippie van."

"Wait, Ed still hangs out there? Man, I remember we used to go there all the time when we were kids!"

"Yeah, he said the spot reminded him of you... ya know, up until a week ago, I thought you were an imaginary friend."

Double D looked over at Ed, who was in his own little world, doodling horror movie monsters and comic book super heroes and band logo's on his assignment sheet, and he felt as guilty as he did when he had gotten Jim back.

"Anyways," Lizzie said, snapping Double D out of his guilt trance, "I was going to invite you to hang out with us there. I can let you know what everyone's been up to since you left, and you can finally tell me why you decided to skip town."

"You seem rather interested about me, Lizzie."

"The big guy hasn't shut up about you in the three years I've known him. I'd kind of like to know the man, since I've heard a lot about the myth."

"Right..." Double D started to feel guilty again, but quickly snapped himself out of it. "Yeah, I probably have some chores I need to take care of first, but I can meet you up there. 2 PM on Saturday sound good?"

"Sounds pretty disco to me!"

"...Disco?"

"Ugh... you are _such_ a square!"

xoxoxo

Ed stood in the locker room, getting changed from his football gear back to his street clothes. It had been a rough practice, so he was still sweaty and stinky, but he didn't like the showers in the school (Well... truth be told, he just didn't like showers.) He had just gotten his shirt on and was about to slip on his jacket when Kevin walked up to him.

"Hey, lunk head!"

"Oh, hi Kevin!"

"Look, people are saying that you're hanging out with that new kid who dissed me the other day. Spill the beans, what's his deal?"

Ed bit his lip. "I don't know who you're..."

"You're a terrible liar, mono-brow!"

"Oh... oh, that new kid. Yeah, he's weird!" Ed didn't like lying to Kevin, but he had to protect Double D's identity. He didn't fully understand why, but he'd asked him to.

"What do you know about him?"

"Umm... well, he likes to help me with my homework, and I think he's an alien!"

"...what?"

"Yeah, his eyes kind of glow just like the Martian Man-Ducks who came to save us from the Brain-Eating Beaver..."

"Ugh..." Kevin grimaced at Ed's stupidity. "Listen, dork, you let that kid know that if he ever disses me or tries hitting on my girl again, I'm going to smear his ass from here to Cancun, okay?" 

"But Kevin, how will you get his buttocks to the Cancun Nebula? That's past the farthest reaches..."

"JUST TELL HIM THAT I'LL KICK HIS ASS, YOU STUPID BASTARD!"

Kevin huffed off and Ed let out a sigh of relief. He wasn't sure why Kevin was so angry, but he knew that it wasn't a good thing. He quickly put his jacket on and left the locker room.


	8. Chapter 8

_You can arrest me baby, I don't wanna leave_

_Lock me up, throw away the key_

_I don't care if I'm in trouble deep_

_I'm addicted to your love; I'll be your prisoner_

Double D let his iPod blare as he sat on top of the old van, some how still in just as good (Well... "Good") of condition as it was when he was just a kid, waiting on Lizzie and Ed. He was being hit with a wave of nostalgia, remembering all the times that he dug through the junk to find parts to construct some scam or another, or just hanging out at that same van with Ed and Eddy, talking about jawbreakers and getting money and just enjoying their youth. At the height of his nostalgia, he felt the van shake a little bit. He turned around and saw Ed standing right behind him.

"Hi ya, Double D!" Ed said, a big goofy grin on his face

"Why hello there Ed. How are you doing?"

"Well, I have this itch on my neck, so I'm starting to wonder if the Mutants from Malaysia came into my room at night and planted me with a cell switcher chip..."

"Calm down on the sci-fi, big guy!"

Edd looked over and saw Lizzie standing there, hand on her hip, wearing a black tank top, a black pair of very short shorts and some knee high boots. Edd had to admit that she looked pretty damn good, and couldn't help but stare a little bit, which Lizzie noticed.

"I really hope that you're just admiring the boots."

"Oh..." Edd stammered, feeling a little embarrassed, "but of course! Where did you get them?"

"I got them at Goth Topic, you pervert!" Lizzie had a bit of a smirk on her face, which made Edd feel a little bit better. "I have to admit, I didn't think 'Mr. Secretive' was actually going to show up."

"I am a man of my word, if nothing else." Edd replied. He looked back over at Ed, who had found his way over to a pile of junk, pulling a muffler out from the heap. He examined it closely, then put it next to the van before digging around some more. Edd looked at him, interested, before he heard Lizzie.

"He keeps trying to find old car parts that might be compatible with the van. The big guy likes to imagine himself as somewhat of a tinkerer, said he was always inspired by the crazy stuff you made. Is it true that you made a giant water slide the last day of summer vacation one year?"

Edd laughed a bit. "Yeah, it's true. Made it with a hose and some scrap metal... I used to make all sorts of crazy stuff."

"I've heard. It's hard to tell what's fact or fiction with the big guy, but if even half of it's true..."

"YOU GUYS!" Ed shouted out, running up to the van, "I think I just found a part of an engine!" Ed then lifted up a rusted soup can. Double D and Lizzie kind of gave him a puzzled look, leading to a moment of silence.

"Um... Ed?" Edd finally said, "I think that's a soup can..."

"But I can use it on the engine, right?"

"Uhh..."

"Sure you can," Lizzie finally said, "but you need to find a bunch more of them for it to properly work!"

"OH BOY!" Ed ran back to the heaps of junk, digging around for soup cans. Lizzie giggled, finally climbing up on the fan and sitting next to Double D.

"Sometimes you gotta amuse the big guy's imagination."

"Oh, trust me, I know." Edd said, grinning a little bit.

"So... are you finally going to answer my question?"

"What question?" Edd looked a little confused, which made Lizzie roll her eyes a bit.

"The first day I met you, I asked you why you left Peach Creek in the first place. Are you going to tell me why?"

Edd looked off in the distance for a second, a conflicted look on his face, before finally looking back at Lizzie. "This will stay between us, right?"

Lizzie sighed. "Other than Ed, I talk to maybe three people, none of them know you. Who the hell am I going to tell?"

"Fair enough." Edd pulled out a pack of smokes from his pocket, lighting one and sucking down on the filter, holding the hit in his lungs for about 10 seconds before finally exhaling the smoke. "To give you the short and sweet of it, I got burned out on life here. I was 12 years old and I was getting in trouble every week because Eddy pressured me to do something that I didn't want to do. I talked to my parents about it, and they wanted me to stay out of trouble and were worried that I'd make something that would accidentally hurt somebody one day, so they called up my grandparents in Detroit, and I moved with them. I didn't want anybody to know because I just wanted a clean break..." He sucked on his cigarette again, feeling increasingly guilty as he talked.

"I feel bad about not telling Ed. He never did anything bad to me, he didn't deserve me just up and leaving. But at the same time, I knew it would have really hurt him if I told him I was leaving... I guess I just wasn't ready to deal with that. You have to remember, I was only 12 years old, I didn't think about stuff that much..."

"Why did you come back?" Edd finally looked up at Lizzie, expecting her to look angry, but she didn't. In fact, she looked... sad.

"Well, my grandma's health was failing before I even moved in with them, but a few months ago, my grandpa's health started going south. They figured that they couldn't really take care of me anymore, and they didn't want to feel like I was there to take care of them, so they sent me back..."

There was a long moment of silence. Edd finally finished up his cigarette and he flicked the butt into a junk heap before turning to Lizzie, who looked like she was deep in thought. "What are you thinking about?" he asked in an attempt to break the silence.

"Well... I'm thinking that you were kind of a selfish asshole leaving Ed high and dry like that..." Edd felt his stomach sink down to his knees, "...but I can totally understand why you did it. If Eddy was anything like he is now when you were younger, I'd want to get away from that piece of shit too!"

It went silent again after that, the two of them watching Ed dig through junk excitedly, in his own little world.

Xoxoxo

Eddy hid behind a heap of garbage, a set of binoculars held up to his face, watching Edd and Lizzie talk while Ed dug through the trash. He decided that if he could get close enough to listen to them, he'd be able to get some real information on the new kid for Kevin, and he finally turned to move in a little closer, but...

"Hi Eddy!"

Eddy saw a darker skinned kid standing behind him, a bald head, a small circular pair of sunglasses around his eyes, a peace sign necklace around his neck, a tye dye shirt, dirty blue jeans, a pair of sandles, and a two by four with a smiley face scribbled on it in his hands.

"Ugh..." Eddy grunted, "what do you want, cue ball?"

"Me and Plank were just coming here to find some recyclables so there's less trash in the world, and we thought we'd see what you were doing."

"None of your business, you damn hippie, now leave me alone!" 

Jonny held Plank up to his head, a focused look on his face, then he looked back up at Eddy.

"Plank says that you're up to no good, so I should keep an eye on you!"

"What does that hunk of wood know?"

"Eddy, Plank is a part of nature. Nature can see all and understand all, so he knows everything!"

"Ugh, whatever, I'm out of here!"

Eddy shuffled away, cursing under his breath.

"Stupid hippie and his damn piece of wood... oh well, I have enough information to tide Kevin over..."


End file.
